Portable sign and barricade assemblies and plastic molded uprights and light and flag mounts therefor

ABSTRACT

Plastic molded uprights and/or light and flag mounts may include stepped upper ends for mounting of a light thereon and/or laterally spaced apart oppositely downwardly angled flag mounting holes extending at least partway therethrough adjacent the upper ends thereof. One or more pairs of integral molded, axially spaced apart flanges may protrude outwardly from one of the front and back walls of the uprights for aiding in locating and supporting one or more barricade boards between respective pairs of flanges.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/097,780, filed Apr. 1, 2005, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/737,019, filed Dec. 16, 2003, now U.S.Pat. No. 7,111,815, dated Sep. 26, 2006, and a continuation-in-part ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/031,408, filed Jan. 7, 2005.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to plastic molded uprights for use in supportingbarricade boards and signs or other structures in a generally uprightposition. Also this invention relates to plastic molded light and flagmounts for supporting lights and/or flags on top of uprights ofdifferent types.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Heretofore square hollow metal or plastic tubing was commonly used asthe uprights in portable barricade and sign assemblies to supportbarricade boards or signs and the like. Typically the uprights weremaintained in a generally upright position by attaching the lower endsof the uprights to conventional base supports. The boards or signs weretypically secured to the uprights by inserting fasteners through alignedholes in the boards or signs and uprights.

One problem with such previous assemblies was the amount of time that itusually took to set the assemblies up and/or take them down. Also therewas no convenient way of easily and quickly attaching a light and/orflag to the uprights as may be desired or required in certainapplications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a hollow plastic moldedupright may be provided with one or more axially spaced pairs ofintegrally molded flanges protruding outwardly from one of the front andback walls thereof for aiding in locating and supporting barricadeboards between each pair of flanges.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, one or more mountingholes may extend through the front and back walls of the uprightsbetween the pairs of flanges and through barricade boards and/or signagefor receipt of fasteners for attaching the barricade boards and/orsignage to the uprights.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the mounting holesmay have solid walls extending completely through the uprights andbarricade boards for ease of inserting fasteners through the mountingholes.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, one end of themounting holes in the uprights may have an enlarged cylindrical recessfor rotatably receiving a fastener bolt head.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the other end of themounting holes in the uprights may have an enlarged non-cylindricalshaped recess for flush, non-rotatable mounting of a correspondinglyshaped fastener nut or bolt head.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the ends of themounting holes in the board-like members may have enlargednon-cylindrical shaped recesses for flush mounting of a correspondinglyshaped nut in either end.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the wall of theuprights opposite the flanged wall may be planar to enable signage to beeasily attached up against the planar wall.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a light mount and/orflag mount may be provided on the upper end of the uprights.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the light mountand/or flag mount may be integral with the upper end of the uprights orremovably attachable thereto.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the base supportsthat are used to support the uprights in a generally upright positionmay have a non-cylindrical shaped mounting hole extending completelythrough the base supports for close sliding receipt of a correspondinglyshaped lower end portion of the uprights. Also, a plurality of laterallyspaced longitudinally extending ribs may be provided around the entireperiphery of the mounting hole that are transversely rounded forestablishing line contact with the lower end portion of the uprightswhen inserted into the mounting hole.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the base supportsmay have a wider intermediate portion than opposite end portions, andthe mounting hole may extend through the intermediate portion and have awidth that is greater than the width of the end portions.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the barricade boardsmay be blow-molded to include a relatively high strength reinforced corethat permits the wall thickness of the boards to be made less thanconventional extruded boards and still have substantially the samerelative strength and stiffness as conventional extruded boards.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the cores of theblow-molded barricade boards may be formed by molding a plurality oflongitudinally extending, laterally spaced, aligned channels or groovesin oppositely facing sides of the boards and joining the inner walls ofthe aligned channels/grooves together during the blow molding process.Also the channels or grooves may be wavy along their length forincreased strength.

These and other objects, advantages, features and aspects of the presentinvention will become apparent as the following description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention,then, comprises the features hereinafter more fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims, the following description andthe annexed drawings setting forth in detail certain illustrativeembodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of butseveral of the various ways in which the principles of the invention maybe employed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the annexed drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one form of upright and base supportassembly of the present invention shown being used to support aplurality of barricade boards;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side elevation view of the assembly of FIG. 1 asseen from the right hand side thereof;

FIG. 2 a is an enlarged fragmentary side elevation view of a portion ofthe upright and one of the barricade boards of FIG. 2, showing one ofthe mounting holes in one of the board and associated mounting hole inthe upright in section and the associated fastener elements in positionprior to insertion into the respective mounting holes for attaching theboard to the upright;

FIG. 2 b is an enlarged fragmentary side elevation view similar to FIG.2 a but showing the flush mounting of the fastener nut head in the boardmounting hole and the fastener bolt head in the upright mounting hole;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged transverse section through one of the uprights ofthe assembly of FIG. 1, taken generally along the plane of the line 3-3thereof;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged front elevation view of one of the uprights ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a rear elevation view of the upright of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the upper end ofthe upright as seen in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a reduced perspective view of the upright and base assembly ofFIG. 1 shown being used to support a sign;

FIG. 8 is a side elevation view of the assembly of FIG. 7 as seen fromthe right hand side thereof;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of one form of light and flag mount of thepresent invention as seen from one side thereof;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the light and flag mount of FIG. 9 asseen from the opposite side thereof; and

FIG. 11 is an exploded fragmentary perspective view showing the lightand flag mount of FIGS. 9 and 10 positioned for attachment to the top ofa conventional hollow metal or plastic upright.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now in more detail to the drawings, in which the samereference numbers are used to indicate like parts throughout the severalviews, and initially to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown a pair of uprights1 of the present invention supported in a generally upright position bya pair of base supports 2 as described hereafter. In FIGS. 1 and 2,three barricade boards 3 are shown attached to the front side of theuprights to provide for example a type III barricade assembly 4 for useon construction sites and the like. However, it should be understoodthat the uprights 1 may be used for other purposes as well including,for example, to support portable signs 6 or the like as shown in FIGS. 7and 8.

Each base support 2 may be of any suitable type including the type shownin U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/737,019, the entire disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference. As best seen in FIG. 3, eachbase support includes a non-cylindrical mounting hole 7 extendingtherethrough intermediate the ends thereof for receiving and supportinga correspondingly shaped non-cylindrical end portion 8 of one of theuprights 1. The base supports 2 may be made relatively lightweight andstill have the desired strength and rigidity as by blow molding the basesupports out of a suitable plastic material such as high densitypolyethylene so as to provide relatively thin walled, substantiallyhollow base supports. To give the base supports added weight during use,they may be filled with a suitable ballast material such as sand orwater.

One of the side walls 9 of the base supports may be substantiallystraight throughout its length to strengthen the base supports againstflexing along their length. The opposite side wall 10 may also besubstantially straight and parallel to the one side wall except for anintermediate length 11 of the other side wall which may extend laterallyoutwardly to provide the base supports with a wider intermediate lengththan end lengths 12 for containing the mounting hole 7 which may be madewider than the width of the end lengths.

A plurality of laterally spaced longitudinally extending ribs 15 may beprovided around the entire periphery of the mounting hole 7 that aretransversely rounded as shown in FIG. 3 to give the ribs added strengthand still allow some flexing of the ribs to permit slightly oversizedend portions 8 of the uprights 1 to be inserted into such mountingholes. Also, the radius of the ribs 15 provide line contact with theexterior of the end portions of the uprights to maintain verticalalignment of the uprights in the mounting holes and reduce surfacefriction between the uprights and ribs for ease of insertion of theuprights into the mounting holes and to allow the uprights to moreeasily break away from the base supports if a traffic barricade or otherdevice supported by the uprights is impacted by a vehicle, therebyminimizing damage to the vehicle.

Different sized mounting holes 7 may be provided in different basesupports 2 that are sized to closely receive different sized endportions of uprights. For example, the mounting holes may be 4″×4″square holes 7 for receiving 4″ square end portions of the uprights or1¾″×1¾″ square holes for receiving 1¾″ square end portions of standardmetal or plastic uprights.

Anti-skid pads 16 may be attached to the bottom walls of the basesupports adjacent opposite end portions for increased stability. Also acarrying handle 17 may be provided on the base supports for ease ofmobility in carrying multiple base supports. The carrying handle 17 mayextend axially from one end portion of the intermediate length 11 of theother side wall 10 toward the end containing the fill hole 18 as shownin FIG. 3 for ease of grasping and standing of the base supports on endduring filling of the base supports with fill material.

Preferably the carrying handle does not protrude laterally outwardlybeyond the intermediate length 11 of the other side wall 10 and isconfined within the total height dimension of the base supports as shownin FIGS. 1 and 2 so the carrying handle is out of the way during useand/or shipment and storage of the base supports.

The board-like members 3 may be conventional plastic extruded boardsprovided with reinforced cores for added strength. However, preferablythe boards are blow molded to provide relatively high strengthreinforced cores that permit the wall thickness of the boards to be madeless than conventional extruded boards and still have substantially thesame relative strength and stiffness as disclosed in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/031,408, the entire disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference. As disclosed in greater detail in thatapplication, the cores may be formed by molding a plurality oflongitudinally extending, laterally spaced aligned channels or grooves20 in oppositely facing sides of the boards and joining the inner endwalls of the aligned channels/grooves together during the blow moldingprocess. Also the channels or grooves 20 may be wavy along their lengthas shown in FIGS. 1 and 11 for increased strength, and may be spacedfrom the side edges of the boards and terminate short of the ends of theboards to provide an uninterrupted surface area around the entireperiphery of the sides to aid in adhering reflective sheeting (notshown) to one or both sides of the boards. In applications wherereflective sheeting may be applied to the boards, the channels 20 may beas narrow as practicable, for example, approximately ⅛″ wide, toincrease the surface area of the sides of the boards to provide greatersupport for the reflective sheeting.

To facilitate mounting of one or more of the members 3 to the uprights1, mounting holes 21 may be molded completely through the boards 3 fromone side to the other as shown in FIG. 11 in areas where the channels 20are interrupted for added strength and ease of hardware installation.Enlarged recesses 22 may be provided at both ends of the holes 21 forflush mounting of correspondingly shaped fastener heads to protect thesheeting on other boards from being scratched by the fasteners. Forexample, a pallet nut 23 having a hex head 24 may be received in acorrespondingly shaped hex recess 22 in the outer ends of the mountingholes 21 as shown in FIGS. 2 a and 2 b. Also the recesses 22 may be alittle oversized relative to the pallet nut heads 24 to accommodate thesheeting when the hollow, internally threaded shafts 25 of the palletnuts are pushed through the sheeting and the pallet nut heads arereceived in the recesses. Then long bolts 26 may be inserted throughholes 27 in the uprights 1 and threaded into the internally threadedshafts of the pallet nuts. The non-circular shape of the recesses 22 inthe ends of the mounting holes 21 in the boards 3 will prevent thepallet nuts 23 from spinning during tightening of the bolts.

The uprights 1 of the present invention (which are shown in greaterdetail in FIGS. 4-6) may be made relatively lightweight and still havethe desired strength and rigidity as by blow molding the uprights out ofa suitable plastic material such as high density polyethylene so thatthey are hollow with relatively thin walls. A plurality of axiallyspaced apart pairs of flanges 30 may be integrally molded on the frontwall 31 of the uprights so as to protrude outwardly therefrom for aidingin locating and supporting the barricade boards 3 between each pair offlanges as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Also the mounting holes 27 may bemolded completely through the uprights between each pair of flanges foradded strength and ease of installation of one or more long bolts 26 forattaching the barricade boards to the uprights.

The end of the upright mounting holes 27 adjacent the back wall 32 ofthe uprights may have an enlarged cylindrical recess 33 for receipt ofthe bolt heads 34 during tightening of the bolts into the pallet nutsfrom the back using a socket wrench or the like after the pallet nutshave been inserted into the non-cylindrical recesses 22 in the boardmounting holes 21. This eliminates the need for having to grip or holdthe pallet nuts in place or keep them from turning during tightening ofthe bolts into the pallet nuts.

Attaching the boards to the uprights in this manner has the advantagethat neither end of the fasteners 23, 26 will extend out beyond theboard members or uprights. Thus there is no risk of the ends of thefasteners hitting the windshield of a vehicle and poking a hole throughit in the event that the assembly is impacted by the vehicle.

The back wall 32 of the uprights 1 may be substantially planar to enablea sign 6 or other structure to be attached to the uprights flush upagainst the back wall as schematically shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 as byinserting long bolts similar to the bolts 26 through one or more of theupright mounting holes 27 in the opposite direction and threading a nutonto the outer ends of the bolts. In that event, the end of the uprightmounting holes 27 adjacent the front wall 31 of the uprights may have anon-cylindrical shaped recess 36 for flush mounting of the bolt head 34in the recess during tightening of the nut.

The upper end 40 of the uprights may be stepped to provide atransversely extending support surface 41 for supporting a light 42thereon (shown in phantom lines in FIGS. 4 and 5) and an axiallyoutwardly extending surface 43 having a hole 44 extending therethroughas shown in FIGS. 4-6 for receipt of a suitable fastener for attachingthe light to the stepped upper end. Further, laterally spaced apart flagmounting holes 45 may extend in opposite directions partway through theuprights at oppositely downwardly extending angles between the sidewalls 46, 47 of the uprights for receipt of oppositely angled flag poles48 (shown in phantom lines in FIGS. 4 and 5) immediately below thestepped upper end 40. The respective flag mounting holes 45 may extendthrough a plurality of axially spaced apart integral molded walls 49extending laterally inwardly from the respective front and back walls31, 32 of the uprights as best seen in FIG. 6. Also an integral moldedstop surface 50 may extend laterally inwardly from the respective frontand back walls 31, 32 in line with the lowermost ends of the respectiveflag mounting holes as further shown in FIG. 6.

If standard square hollow metal or plastic tubing is used for theuprights instead of the uprights 1 of the present invention, acombination light and flag mount of the present invention may beattached to the upper end of the uprights. One such combination lightand flag mount 55 is shown in FIGS. 9-11, and may comprise a hollowplastic molded body member 56 having front and back walls 57 and 58 andopposite side walls 59 and 60. The upper end 61 of the body member 56may be stepped to include a transversely extending surface 62 forsupporting a light thereon (not shown) and an axially outwardlyextending surface 63 having a hole 64 extending therethrough for receiptof a fastener for fastening the light to the stepped upper end, similarto the stepped upper end 40 of upright 1. Also laterally spaced apartflag mounting holes 65 may extend in opposite directions through aplurality of axially spaced integral molded walls 66 in the body member56 at oppositely downwardly extending angles between the side walls 59,60 adjacent the stepped upper end for receipt of oppositely angled flagpoles, similar to the flag mounting holes adjacent the upper end ofuprights 1. Integral molded stop surfaces 67 may extend laterallyinwardly from the respective front and back walls 57, 58 in line withthe lowermost ends of the flag mounting holes.

Depending on the dimensions of the standard uprights, the lower endportion 70 of the combination light and flag mounts 55 may bedimensioned to be telescopically received within the upper end of theuprights or include a slot 71 in one of the front and back wallsdimensioned for receipt of the upper end of the uprights. For example,if the uprights have 4″×4″ square upper end portions, the lower endportion 70 of the combination light and flag mounts 55 may be sized tofit within the upper ends of the uprights. If, on the other hand, theuprights are 1¾″×1¾″ standard square hollow uprights, the upper end 72of the uprights 73 may fit into the slot 71 in the front or back wall ofthe mounts as schematically illustrated in FIG. 11. In either case,suitably axially spaced apart hardware holes 74 and 75 (one of which maybe elongated as shown to accommodate possible variations in the spacingbetween the mounting holes 76 and 77 in the uprights) may be moldedcompletely through the body member into the slots 71 so that the samefasteners 23, 26 that are used to fasten the barricade boards 3 (orother structures) to the uprights may also be used to fasten thecombination light and flag mounts 55 to the uprights as furtherschematically shown in FIG. 11.

Although the invention has been shown and described with respect tocertain embodiments, it is obvious that equivalent alterations andmodifications will occur to others skilled in the art upon the readingand understanding of the specification. In particular, with regard tovarious functions performed by the above described components, the terms(including any reference to a “means”) used to describe such componentsare intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, to any componentwhich performs the specified function of the described component (e.g.,that is functionally equivalent), even though not structurallyequivalent to the disclosed component which performs the function in theherein exemplary embodiments of the invention. In addition, while aparticular feature of the invention may have been disclosed with respectto only one embodiment, such feature may be combined with one or moreother features of other embodiments as may be desired and advantageousfor any given or particular application.

1. In combination, an upright and a base support for supporting saidupright in a generally upright position, said upright having anon-cylindrical shaped lower end portion, and said base support having acorrespondingly shaped non-cylindrical mounting hole for close slidingreceipt of said lower end portion of said upright in said mounting hole,said mounting hole having multiple sides, each of said sides having aplurality of laterally spaced, longitudinally extending ribs around theentire periphery of said mounting hole that are transversely rounded ina direction normal to an axial length of the ribs for establishing axialline contact with said lower end portion of said upright when insertedinto said mounting hole, and a combination light and flag mount having alower end attachable to an upper end of said upright, said combinationlight and flag mount comprising a hollow molded plastic body memberhaving front and back walls and opposite side walls, and an inwardlystepped upper end having a transversely inwardly extending surface forsupporting a light thereon and an axially outwardly extending surfacehaving a hole extending therethrough for receipt of a fastener forattaching the light to said stepped upper end, and at least one flagmounting hole extending at least partway through said body member at adownwardly extending angle between said side walls below said steppedupper end of said body member.
 2. The combination of claim 1 whereinthere are two laterally spaced apart flag mounting holes extending inopposite directions partway through said body member at oppositelydownwardly extending angles between said side walls below said steppedupper end of said body member.
 3. The combination of claim 1 whereinsaid upright has a non-cylindrical shaped opening in said upper end, andsaid lower end of said body member has a correspondingly non-cylindricalshape sized to be telescopically received in said non-cylindrical shapedopening in said upper end of said upright.
 4. The combination of claim 1wherein said lower end of said body member has an axially extendingU-shaped slot in one of said front and back walls, and said upper end ofsaid upright has a corresponding shape for close receipt of said upperend of said upright in said slot in said body member, and one or morefastener mounting holes extend through the other of said front and backwalls of said body member into said slot that align with one or moreother fastener mounting holes in said upper end of said upright whensaid upper end of said upright is fitted in said slot.
 5. Incombination, an upright and a base support for supporting said uprightin a generally upright position, said upright having a non-cylindricalshaped lower end portion, and said base support having a correspondinglyshaped non-cylindrical mounting hole for close sliding receipt of saidlower end portion of said upright in said mounting hole, and acombination light and flag mount having a lower end attachable to anupper end of said upright, said combination light and flag mountcomprising a hollow molded plastic body member having front and backwalls and opposite side walls, and an inwardly stepped upper end havinga transversely inwardly extending surface for supporting a light thereonand an axially outwardly extending surface having a hole extendingtherethrough for receipt of a fastener for attaching the light to saidstepped upper end, and at least one flag mounting hole extending atleast partway through said body member at a downwardly extending anglebetween said side walls below said stepped upper end of said bodymember.
 6. The combination of claim 5 wherein there are two laterallyspaced apart flag mounting holes extending in opposite directionspartway through said body member at oppositely downwardly extendingangles between said side walls below said stepped upper end of said bodymember.
 7. The combination of claim 5 wherein said upright has anon-cylindrical shaped opening in said upper end, and said lower end ofsaid body member has a correspondingly non-cylindrical shape sized to betelescopically received in said non-cylindrical shaped opening in saidupper end of said upright.
 8. The combination of claim 5 wherein saidlower end of said body member has an axially extending U-shaped slot inone of said front and back walls, and said upper end of said upright hasa corresponding shape for close receipt of said upper end of saidupright in said slot in said body member, and one or more fastenermounting holes extend through the other of said front and back walls ofsaid body member into said slot that align with one or more otherfastener mounting holes in said upper end of said upright when saidupper end of said upright is fitted in said slot.